The bodies are in the finishing closet. I use the closet in my son’s old bedroom to apply the finish, which is hand rubbed on. Out of the way and I can shut the door which means that it is pretty free of flying dust. To get here there were a number of coats of CA glue I use as filler, with a lot of sanding in between coats. The weather has been nice the last couple of days so I have done all of the sanding outside with a fan behind me to blow the dust out into the yard. Final sanding is with 400 grit paper. One is “chasing the shine” left from the CA glue to make sure that all of the pores are filled and all areas are sanded. Even without any finish they look pretty good.
Of course, get the first layer of real finish on them and things really begin to look good, and the look of the various woods really begin to ‘pop’
Doing the finish on the bodies will take a number of days because there are many coats, and necessary drying time so that the finish can harden before sanding between coats. In the meantime work is progressing on the necks. The necks have all had their bolt-on neck hardware installed, they have been fitted to their respective bodies, and rough profiled. The fingerboards have all been cut to shape, those that get a radius have been radiused, and the fret slots are cut.
The headplates get glued on the necks and then there will be a little pause in the woodwork while some inlay gets done on the headplates and fingerboards. I’m also taking a little vacation from June 28 – July 10 so the only thing going on will be finish hardening.